Harlequin shrimp eats serpent star??

[erayk1]

I was just wondering if a Harlequin shrimp is able to eat a serpent starfish with a body the size of a silver dollar? Also, will it eat the pesky little blue 6 legged stars that seem to only multiply and eat my coraline?
Thanks for the help!

 

[Tennyson]

Do you mean if the serpent star was the size of a silver dollar or the shrimp? The harlequin might eat the serpent star if it gets hungry, but it would take a long time for it to do any major damage. How big is your serpent star? I'd say if its atleast 2 3/4 inches from arm to arm, it would be okay, plus serpents hide in and under rocks all day.

The harlequin might eat those small other stars, but I'd keep it well fed anyways because that would make the harlequin happy and you'd lose the risk of the serpent getting hurt. But generally I think harlequin's eat chocalate chip stars. good luck anyways.

 

[rssjsb]

Harlequins eat the tube feet of starfish (chocolate chips are just one of many types of starfish that have them). Brittle stars don't have tube feet. Asterinas (what I think you're describing) do, but I think you'd have to have a lot to keep the shrimp alive.

I think it's a pretty daunting task to support them long-term. Constantly buying and killing starfish to supply the shrimp would get old really fast. Adding live starfish to your tank and letting the shrimp kill them a little bit at a time is a little icky for a display tank, and probably would cause water quality problems in the long term. Not to mention that, while they're not being nibbled to death in full view, chocolate chip stars are not reef safe, and can eat coral or even fish.

All in all, IMHO, harlequins are cool-looking, but kind of gross.

 

[philter4]

Harlequins do eat sertpent stars, but IME serpent stars don't last as long as bulkier stars, not sure if they just can't handle the stress of being eaten of if there is so little flesh that they don't last as long. Brittle and serpent stars do have tube feet, all echinoderms including cucs and sea apples do, it is part of what makes a star a star. As for cost of food, a chocolate chip, which costs about 8 dollars here, lasts about a week, the food for my reef costs more then that per week, and my fish eat about a dollar a day as well, so even though it is only 1 animal, the cost isn't that bad. Also, if you don't let the star rot you don't have too much trouble with water quality, but it can distract from the display tank to have a half eaten star on the sand in full view. IMO this is worth the beauty of the shrimp, and to me, the stars are food, just like any other live food item I introduce.

 

[rssjsb]

Sorry if my post was too negative. It was late. The point I was trying to make is that a lot of people are wowed by the incredible beauty of these shrimp, or want them to take care of an immediate problem with asterinas, and don't realize the tradeoffs you have to make to keep them happy long term. Philter is obviously very dedicated to his and enjoys them enough to do what needs to be done. If you have all the information and still want to try, great.

Obviously, I'm more bothered by the slow death of the starfish than are others, but I should probably have kept that particular bias to myself.

 

[Swanwillow]

why?. its a GOOD bias, and informative at the same time.

I'm teetering on the edge of saying yes or no to harlies. While they are SO pretty, and it would be neat to watch them eat starfish

Poor starfish, and I kinda want starfish in my tank. Plus all of the starfish that I'd have to kill to keep them...

 

[erayk1]

thanks for all the help!